Mauritania head for polls

  1. Posted on Saturday 18 July 2009 - 07:00
    KingsleyKobo
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    Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
    Mauritanians go to the polls on Saturday for their long-awaited presidential election. The stakes are high in choosing the "real person" who would deliver the West African desert nation from both a political and an economic impasse it has been stuck in since the military took power in August 2008.
    mauritania
    State media reported lively rallies across different headquarters as candidates rounded off their campaigns last night.

    Nine candidates are vying for the presidency but analysts, far and near, say only four would be strong contenders. These are two ex-military heads of state, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and Ely Ould Mohamed Vall; and two opposition leaders, Ahmed Ould Daddah and Messaoud Ould Boulkheir.

    Public opinion across the country present Gen. Abdel Aziz as the most favoured. He himself recently said on Radio France International (RFI) that he was going to be successful at the polls and a run-off would not be necessary.

    But observers believe this affirmation was more of a strategy than a reality. “It’s going to be difficult for a straight win without a run-off owing to the big number of candidates in the race,” said Moussa Samba Sy, a journalist in Nouakchott. “But proclaiming he would win outright, Abdel Aziz is trying to pull on board undecided voters. And we all know Mauritanians don’t like voting for a loser, everybody wants to flow to the winning camp,” Sy concluded.

    Abdel Aziz deposed democratically elected President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in August 2008 in a bloodless coup, formed a military council which had ruled the country for ten months, but backed down lately under international pressure and signed a peace deal brokered by Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade.

    The deal paved way for the establishment of a transitional government, equally split between opposition and coup supporters, which is currently supervising the elections.

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